


Professor

by katey8



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-20
Updated: 2017-04-20
Packaged: 2018-10-21 06:41:12
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10679808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katey8/pseuds/katey8
Summary: Miss. Emma Knightly starts off college with a huge crush on her foreign English professor.





	1. Chapter 1

August twenty-second, the first day of school. Freshman year for writing major, Emma Knightly at Callahan University.

Emma stands looking down and out her window at the college square below only to be interrupted by her father’s heavy breathing as he carries the last three boxes into her room.

Mr. Knightly, with one hand on his hip wipes his brow with the back of his other. “Well that’s the last of them. Good thing you have a working elevator.”

Mrs. Knightly finishes making her daughter’s bed and with a heavy, heart-felt sigh brings hands up to cup her cheeks. “Oh, my baby. Come here.”

With a smile Emma rolls her eyes and walks into her mother’s arms who holds her tight. Thank God, her new roommate hasn’t arrived yet.

“Now, you let us know if you forgot anything and we’ll ship it to you.”

“Yes, Mom.”

“Mary, let her go!” Mr. Knightly teases. “The girl needs to breathe.”

Mrs. Knightly turns an awful glare of a lioness on her husband, “Oh hush, Jim. I’m not going to see my baby until Thaksgiving! That’s a whole,” Mrs. Knightly releases Emma keeping one hand on her shoulder using the other to count the months on her fingers. “Three months.”

“Mom, it’s fine. I’ve been away for camps and stuff.”

“Come on Mary, I don’t wanna hit rush hour to the airport.” Mr. Knightly manages to break between his wife and daughter to give his baby girl a bear-hug. “You be good, kiddo.” Lowering his voice he spoke close to her ear, “And remember to hide any liquor in soda or sports drink bottles.”

Emma snorted and Mrs. Knightly, obviously overhearing gave her husband a playful slap on the arm. “Come on Jim, we don’t want to get stuck in traffic.” And with that and one final big smooch on the cheek from her mother, Emma waved goodbye to her parents then turned around to collapse on top of her newly-made bed in her cramped little dorm.

She forgot the door was still wide open when she heard a voice say, “Hi, are you Em-ma?”

Emma looks up and finds a a girl carrying a backpack, a suitcase and a duffle bag, with long wavy red hair that instantly made brunette-straight-haired Emma jealous. “Hi. Carly, isn’t it?”

The red-head beamed with a slight squeal, “Hi, I’m Carly Thomas,” she seems to charge straight into the room throwing her duffle bag and backpack onto her unmade bed, while her suitcase is left stranded in the doorway. “You look normal.”

“I sure hope so,” Emma remarks still stunned by the girl’s instant excitement.

“I was worried I’d be stuck with some uggo or walk in with a witchy star or whatever,” Carly explains digging through her backpack for her phone charger. After finding an outlet to plug in her phone, she turns her attention back to Emma. “So what brings you to Callahan, Emma?”

“Oh, I’m in the writing department. How about you?”

“How funny, so am I! I want to be a r-r-r-romance writer,” she says with a hint of flare as her words rolled off her tongue.

“Really? You seem like a play - write.”

Carly laughed again, “You caught onto that, huh? Yeah I did drama in and outside of high school. So, what type of author do you want to be?”

Emma sat up to a seating position, dangling her legs off the edge of the bed and leaned in as if to tell her new roommate a secret with a smile. “Whatever story I want to tell.”

The whole weekend Emma grew very fond of Carly and vice-versa that the two became fast friends. They explored the campus together and attended the freshman rally then at night when they sat in their snug little dorm they’d pitch story ideas or read aloud rough passages from their journals snacking on cookies and candy. Finally, it was Sunday night and Emma and Carly had gone through their bins of clothes and showed off their “First Day of School” outfits before snuggling under their blankets and watching Pride and Prejudice.

“I know he’s such a douche-bag and all,” Emma chimes in. “But, I gotta say, I would want to find myself a Darcy.”

“Me too, girl,” Carly sighs dreamily popping popcorn into her mouth.

Emma continues, “I mean he speaks his mind, yet allows Elizabeth to speak her own, however challenging her. In the end they must realize how they make each other better, you know?”

“I think so. Plus he looks amaze in a wet white shirt.”

“Well, yeah!” Emma agrees and the two girls giggle. Fantasizing about their own Mr. Darcys.

The next day was Monday morning, first day of classes. For Emma, starting with sharing a bathroom with twenty-odd other girls in a multi shower and toilet facility felt like camping. It was still August and the weather still called for a tank and shorts, so that’s what Emma wore. So far she liked her professors and she tapped her fingers nervously about one professor who seemed quite harsh on the class already introducing the course for the semester like a drill sergeant preparing his “maggots” for the brutal training ahead. Walking passed the fountain in the square to the next building, she finds Carly waving her hand above her head at her. Emma smiles and jogs up to her. 

“Hey girl, how have your classes been so far?” 

Carly groans, “Oh my God! I had Mr. Killian for beginner poetry --”

“Oh my god! I just met him in beginners poetry!”

“Isn’t he awful!”

“Yeah right? It’s like he has a stick up his butt or something.” The girls jog up the steps into the next building talking about their classes. Emma was glad they had at least this class together. Classic Literature 101.

“Oh! There are two seats over there. C’mon.” Carly grabs Emma’s hand and leads her up the steps to the two empty seats mentioned. Seated Carly leans over and says, “I hear this guy is a newbie. Do you think he’s cute? Probably fresh out of college himself.”

A row below them, a boy with tousled brown hair turns around showing his friendly grey eyes and stubble, “Actually, he’s a transfer from London.”

“Ugh, he’s probably old then,” Carly huffs and leans back in her chair.

With the last trickle of students to enter, feeling the seats a man walked in heading straight for the desk removing his satchel from across his body and opening it to pull out a couple books, papers, and pens. Emma observed his figure: he wore a white button-up shirt, sleeves rolled up to his elbow, tucked neatly into his khaki pants, secured with a brown belt with a twinkle of a gold buckle; the tucked shirt showed off his seemingly fit silhouette, and paired nicely with brown dress shoes. His physical appearance: Dark hair cut short with a matching dark-haired groomed beard. She couldn’t see the color of his eyes, but noted how his gaze traveled down passed his Romanesque nose as he looked over what was possibly his plan for the class, casually with one hand in the pocket of his pants.

“Not that old,” Emma comments towards Carly with a mischievous grin. Carly giggles.

The man looked up finally at the clock above the doorway then up at the class. “Hello, everybody and welcome to Classic Literature 101. I am Professor Richard Armitage.”

“Oh my god, that accent,” Carly whispers.

“I know,” says Emma. Glancing down at the rows below them, Emma notices how all the girls in the class all sat up at the sound of his voice as Carly had done beside her.

Mr. Armitage’s class was the last of the day both Carly and Emma walked out of that class carrying their fantasies with them about the exotic professor.


	2. Chapter 2

Three years later it was the first day of Senior year and both Carly and Emma remained friends. The second semester of their freshman year they both attended Rush and both became Sisters at the Sigma Kappa Sorority House. By the beginning of Sophomore year, Carly was already going out with Kyle, the tousled, brown-haired boy with the kind grey eyes from the previous year. Carly could not stop talking about their dates, first kiss, first cuddle, etc. to Emma over the phone during the summer. By the second semester of Sophomore year, Emma met a basketball player, Cody, he was tall like Professor Armitage and had amazing blue eyes, though they did not quite sparkle the way Armitage did in the sunlight. They had a great relationship well into Junior year. Cody would meet up with her after class when he could, she would surprise him on occasion after practice and always jump him with a big kiss on the lips after a good game during basketball season. And more importantly, her parents loved him. They thought he had great mannerisms, “Quite the gentleman,” Mrs. Knightly states.

“I know, and Dad didn’t scare him away with his bad jokes.” They both laughed over the phone.

“He’s a keeper. Let us know what his family’s like after you’re back from Christmas vacation. We’ll send Grandma your love.”

A couple months later, just before the school year resumed after winter break however, Carly was there sitting on Emma’s bed with her, a box of tissues between them as she consoled her friend.

“He’s a stupid frat boy! You shouldn’t be crying over him.”

“But he told me he loved me... and I... I...” Emma sobbed but Carly wouldn’t let her finish.

“A bastard. Kyle has offered to punch him for you. With your permission, of course,” Emma snorts and boogers squirt out of her nose. Carly flinches. “S-sorry.”

“Don’t bother. I just want you to know that while Ass-face turned away from an amazing young woman such as you, I still love you.” She tries to catch Emma’s gaze as she blows her nose and wipes it.   
“You can always master-bate about a certain hunky, British professor.” This makes Emma look shyly away and laugh and Carly joins her.

The next month, the sorority was decorated with Red hearts, pink streamers and winged-babies with bows and arrows. The girls were all talking about the Valentine’s Day fling. What was really cute, Emma thought, each girl in the house sent her a box of chocolates, a rose, all with a note saying something that would make Emma smile about how much of an undeserving douche-bag, womanizer Cody is. 

Emma sat in Armitage’s class, Poetry 301 and day-dreamed listening to Professor Armitage recite a a love poem by some dead nineteenth century poet, she obviously wasn’t paying attention - and good reason. And yet, her professor’s deep baritone voice relaxed her as she stared down passed the heads in the rows below her down to the floor by the professor’s feet. When he was done, he set the book on the desk behind him where he leaned casually against it, his feet crossed in front of him. Today, he wore a white button-up shirt and black tie tucked into his dark grey pants paired with black dress shoes and a dark grey vest.

“That should put you all in the mood for tonight. I understand some of you will be attending A Valentine’s Day party.” The girls all giggled staring in awe at the handsome bearded- man before them as the boys started packing their notebooks and pens into their bags. Armitage reached behind him for a stack a papers. “Don’t forget your graded poems, I have them here. If you have any concerns about your grade, you know my office hours.” Emma walked up with her head bent avoiding eye contact, although he did greet her with a, “Miss. Knightly.”

Out of class she looked down at her single sheet of paper filled with her name and date and three lines in the center. No grade just the message, “See me,” in Armitage’s hand-writing. Elegant, yet manly with the sharp points and zig-zag turns of each cursive letter.

Carly reaches out to touch her shoulder, unaware of the contents of the paper in Emma’s hand. “You alright?” Emma looks up with a smile. “Yeah, I’m fine. You and Kyle go ahead, I’ll meet up with you later.” When she realized she was in the clear that Carly had already taken Kyle’s arm and they continued on their way, Emma turns around and returns to the classroom.

Armitage was erasing the lesson from the board when he turned around and saw Emma standing by his desk, arms-crossed with her paper in hand.

“Miss. Knightly. I see you read my note.”

“Why don't I get a grade?”

“Because I know you are far capable of putting more on a paper than what you produced there.”

“It’s a Haiku poem and size shouldn’t matter, it’s the connection to the reader, the audience that matters.”

“It’s an easy way out of pushing yourself beyond your limits. Elementary work. You’re a brilliant writer, Miss. Knightly. I’ve been admiring your work since your Freshman year. This doesn’t equal the potential you have shown me.” He was bent over his desk to meet Emma’s height holding her paper, which he had grabbed from her hand and was now holding it up in front of her. Her focus wasn’t on the paper, however, but on his eyes, his crystal blue eyes that burned her soul that sent heat throughout her body down between her legs. 

Armitage stood up straight handing the paper back to her. “I’ll make a deal with you. I’ll give you until nine o’clock tonight to produce another poem and that will be the poem I’ll grade.”

“But my friends are expecting me to --” 

“Drop it off at my office by nine o’clock tonight.”

“The Valentine’s --”

“Then accept another failing grade. You’re starting your senior year next autumn, you should close this year on a high note you’ve been riding on since your first day here.”

Emma bit her lip and looked down at her paper.

“I understand you’re currently single and want to have a fling or get revenge on that basketball player --”

“Okay! Okay. I’ll have another paper in this evening.” Without a thank you. She stormed out of the classroom.


End file.
